I’m a public relations professional based in Manhattan Beach, California. I’ve consulted for large firms, startups and leading universities. I write about public relations and marketing with targeted advice on how to contact reporters, how to make your story attractive to the media, how to produce events and how to work with PR firms to increase your profile. I can be reached at rob@wynnepr.com.

What Journalists Really Think Of Your Press Release

Have you ever found a good story via a press release?I have absolutely found my way to good stories via a press release. But the savvy publicist must recognize that the story I want out of your pitch may not be exactly the story you’re pitching. The smart publicist will recognize that getting a client mentioned in a piece with a larger context may be just as good as getting a story about that client and nothing else – which might not have happened in the first place.

Derek Thompson, Senior Editor, The AtlanticWhat annoys you about press releases?The broad thoughtlessness of many press releases are sort of astonishing. The classic of the genre is putting ‘Timely Business Story’ in the headline. But there are also releases that seem tailored to speak to everybody and appeal to nobody. ‘Pitch: Better Jobs in America’ would be that sort of subject line.

What could PR people do to make them better?I delete most releases after about .5 seconds spent on the subject line. Make the subject line personal, the way you would if you were asking a friend a favor. Not ALL CAPS or Super Formal but casual and knowing. “yo” has worked before to get me to open the email. “Hey Derek, wonderful piece” has worked (flattery often does for journalists!). Other than that, you have to know me and what I write about, not just pitch me a story because it’s about business.

Have you ever found a good story via a press release?Absolutely. It has to be specific and speak specifically to what I’m interested in. For example, somebody pitched me once to write a story about how economic statistics were broken and a new big data company was trying to solve the problem. I had just been thinking about this issue, so I wrote back and yadda yadda it turned into this piece.

Jason Gilbert, Senior Editor, Yahoo! TechWhat annoys you about press releases?When other journalists get them before me. When there’s no contact information for who to reach out to. When key information is left out or left vague.

What could PR people do to make them better? Fix all of the things above! And press releases, unlike pitch emails, should be thorough. We’re looking for all of the information about this new product or study or whatever that we can find so that we can determine if it’s worth digging deeper into. Links to websites with even more information are great, too. And you HAVE to have contact information at the end. And not just that, but you better be REPLYING to those contacts quickly, too. Don’t add an email address you never check, or a phone number for a line you never answer!

Have you ever found a good story via a press release? All the time! Especially from universities and smaller companies that don’t have the bandwidth to send out email blasts or hire a PR firm. Most journalists I know regularly check newswires for new announcements.

So the good news: it’s possible to land a good story via press release, but it must be very well-written, targeted to the right reporter, sent with a specific story idea via the headline, and you may also have to get lucky. The bad news: press releases may not be the right format for most reporters and sometimes, as Rick Newman noted, you won’t get the article you envisioned.

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